Northeast Park Hill Kids Line Up, Ready For Their New Club

By Laura Graham, Boys & Girls Club
Since 2009, the Urban Land Conservancy (ULC) and the Holly Area Redevelopment Project (HARP) have been working tirelessly to convert the barren remnants of what was the Holly Shopping Center in Northeast Park Hill into an area that would revitalize the community once more. Through an incredible $5 million gift from the Anschutz Foundation, and partnerships around the community, this work is nearing completion.
This fall, work at the Nancy P. Anschutz Center will begin serving children and youth in the Northeast Park Hill community. The center will be home to the Jack A. Vickers Boys & Girls Club, offices for the anti-gang Prodigal Son Initiative, and a training center for the Mi Casa Resource Center.
Tuesday, July 16, members from the Boys & Girls Clubs, Prodigal Son Initiative, and Mi Casa came together with youth from the community to plant the Club’s community garden. The garden, known as the Learning Garden, is one of 95 nationwide planted by The Kitchen Community.  The Kitchen Community, a 501c3 nonprofit, was established in 2011 as the philanthropic arm of The Kitchen restaurants to connect kids to nutritious food by creating Learning Gardens in schools and community organizations across America.
The Learning Garden will serve as an easy, affordable, scalable Club garden solution; it is an attractive outdoor classroom and experiential play space with edible vegetables.  Learning Gardens are designed to be places Club kids will want to play and teachers want to teach, thereby helping to decrease childhood obesity, improve academic performance, and strengthen communities.
“The building of this community center has livened the spirits of this community, and the area is on the uptake,” says Terrance Roberts, who serves as the Executive Director of the Prodigal Son Initiative, and was born and raised in the Northeast Park Hill community. “The kids in this community can’t decide where they are going to live and grow up, but now at least they have a place to go.”
The Jack A. Vickers Boys & Girls Club will begin accepting membership applications August 19. The new Club will have the capacity to serve 250 children from the community each day.
“We’re transforming the community and people are enthusiastic about the safe, quality programs we will offer kids,” says Jason Torrez, who will serve as Club Director in the new space. “This Club gives us an incredible opportunity to work with youth in this community on a holistic basis. We are so grateful to everyone who played a role in getting this project off the ground, and we’re nearing a time when we’ll finally see this important work begin.”
DeShawn, who lives minutes from the new Club and will be starting his Freshman year at East High School this fall is excited to sign up for membership. “This was a place no one wanted to come to,” he says. “Now, this is a place I can see myself coming to every day.”
For more information on the new Jack A. Vickers Boys & Girls Club, please contact Jason Torrez at JasonT@bgcmd.org.